Opinion has also moved downward on how the president and White House are handling the economy. Just over two in five Americans (43%) give President Obama positive marks for his job on the economy while 57% give him negative marks. This is down from last month when 46% gave him positive marks and 54% gave him negative ratings. In the negative for the first time is confidence in the White House and Administration to produce policies to help fix the economic crisis. Now, 51% of Americans are not confident this will happen while 49% are confident. In May, 55% of Americans were confident while 45% were not.
Looking at how certain groups feel about President Obama’s job shows where some cracks are appearing:
* It is not surprising that Democrats give President Obama an overwhelmingly positive job rating in comparison to Republicans (85% vs. 19%). Among Independents, more give him negative ratings (53%) than positive (47%);
* There is a gender gap emerging. Men are split with 50% giving President Obama positive ratings and 50% giving him negative ratings while almost three in five women (58%) give him positive ratings;
* Three in five Easterners (60%), 57% of Westerners and just over half of Midwesterners (52%) give President Obama positive ratings. Southerners, however, are negative with 51%;
* There are generational differences. Younger people still give President Obama positive ratings, the oldest generation does not as 54% of Matures (those aged 64 and older) give him negative marks; and,
* Attitudes on the direction of the country had been slowly moving upwards but that has stopped this month. In May 44% of Americans believed the country was going in the right direction while 56% said it was going off on the wrong track. This month, 43% believe it is going in the right direction and 57% say it is going off on the wrong track.
So What?
While a majority of Americans still approve of the overall job President Obama is doing, the honeymoon may be nearing its end. When certain groups such as Southerners give him negative marks it is not surprising, but when Independents and Matures are added to the mix, it seems that people may have hit the point where they expect change to occur and, to them, it hasn’t yet happened. There are many things that the president is trying to deal with at once – the economy, health care, North Korea, and Iran are the major ones in the forefront, but there is also Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and a myriad of other issues. With attitudes towards his handling of the economy continuing to be negative and a lack of confidence in the White House’s ability to fix the crisis, will it be much longer until the honeymoon is officially over?
